Help and FAQs

Thank you so much for joining us at Relay For Life! On this page, you’ll find helpful tips and answers to participants’ most common questions. If we missed something, please contact us so we can help you.

Why do I have to fundraise?

Relay For Life is a powerful community event and an extremely important fundraising event! With the money you raise, we can fund research that leads to life-saving discoveries and support people who are facing cancer today. Without your fundraising efforts, none of that would be possible.

How will you use the money that I raise?

We’ll use it to create a world where no one fears cancer. That means your generous contributions will fund research and provide support programs for people who are living with cancer. See where your money goes.

How much money do I need to raise to participate in Relay For Life?

Everyone who participates in Relay For Life needs to set a goal of at least $150. When you put your mind to it, you’ll be amazed at what you can do for a cause that’s so close to your heart - and we’ll be here to help you every step of the way! In addition to the helpful emails we’ll be sending to all participants, you can check out fundraising tips and find detailed fundraising help in your participant centre.

What happens if I don’t Raise $150?

You’re encouraged to make a donation to your personal fundraising page to top off what you’ve raised. We’re here to help you, though! Once you register for Relay, we’ll send you coaching emails to help you meet and exceed your fundraising goal. Every year, thousands of people like you raise at least $150 - there’s no reason you can’t, too!

I’m new to fundraising. Can you give me some tips?

Of course! Here are our top 3 tips:

Make the first donation to your personal fundraising page. This will help other people choose how much to give to you, so make a donation that you’re proud of!

Send fundraising emails from your participant centre to everyone you know. This is the secret of our top fundraisers! Ask everyone because every donation adds up.

A few days after you send your first emails, send a reminder email to anyone you haven’t heard from yet. Experience tells us that most people need 2 to 3 reminders before they make a donation, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t hear from someone right away.

Can people other than my team see the results of our fundraising?

Yes. Team and individual fundraising pages - along with your results - are public, unless you opted to make them private when you registered. People will be able to see your fundraising totals, but they can’t see individual donation amounts. When someone makes a donation to your page, they can choose to do so anonymously. Having a public fundraising page allows people to search for you and make a donation easily.

If you’d like to make your personal fundraising page private, follow these steps:

What do I do with the money I’ve collected offline?

Great job fundraising! Your team captain will collect all the money that you and your teammates raise. The captain will submit the funds on a bank night before the event. Bank nights allow early submission of team paperwork, so you can avoid lineups at the event.

Do I need to enter the offline donations I’ve collected into my Participant Centre? How do I do it?

Adding your offline donations to your participant centre is a great way to keep track of your total fundraising amount! Follow the steps below to enter your offline donations and see your fundraising thermometer go up.

Receipts cannot be issued for cash or cheque donations entered through your participant centre. Cash or cheque donations that you collect must be handed in to your team captain or your local Relay office. Receipts are generated when a credit card donation is entered in your participant centre, but this option is only available in specific provinces.

I sent emails to my friends and family from my Participant Centre, but they haven’t received them. What can I do?

This isn’t your fault. It happens sometimes. Ask people to check their spam folder. If they use Gmail, ask them to check their promotions tab.

This is my first year as a Captain. What are my responsibilities?

Welcome! As a Relay team captain, you have a really important and rewarding job. In addition to reaching your personal fundraising goal, it’s your responsibility to lead your team to Relay success! You’ll:

build your team by recruiting people

motivate your teammates to meet their fundraising goals

collect offline donations from your teammates and submit them to us at bank night (we will be in touch with you about this)

How many teammates should my team have?

There isn’t a minimum number of people, but the more you have, the more money you’ll raise, the more good you’ll do and the more fun you’ll have at Relay!

What is the best way to recruit teammates?

You should start by sending recruitment emails to anyone you’d like to join your team. We’ve set up a sample email in your participant centre that you can use as is or personalize it as much as you’d like.

Do you have any resources that can help me encourage my team to fundraise?

Yes, we do! There’s a sample email in your participant centre that you can use to encourage your teammates to fundraise. You can use the email as is or modify it as necessary. We recommend sending out a team email once a week until your Relay event, telling your teammates how the team is doing and how much more you need everyone to fundraise.

How do I enter a team donation or help others who want to make a team donation?

Great job fundraising!

If you want to enter an offline team donation (only team captains can do this)